Questions and Answers about Minoan Culture

Question: What outdoor theater productions were available to see?

Answer: There was no theater in the minoan society. There were a lot of religious festivals and ceremonies though. In fact, there were ceremonies daily. There were rituals associated with eating, bathing, dressing, etc. Baking of bread was a ritual. Each animal killed must be sacrificed. Weaving an sewing was a ritual. Planting was a ritual. Reaping was a ritual. Socializing involved a lot of dancing and music. They also liked to have a procession. In later Greece theater developed from a men’s chorus at a religious festival. In the Minoan society there were many festivals where a woman would play the role of the goddess in a festival, but it was not theater.

Question: What were the primary contributions of the Minoan and Mycenean Cultures to the development of Western Civilization and which was most important?

Answer: Religion, Poetry, and Rhetoric. Religion was the most important. The waves of invaders continued to conquer the land but the religion took over the invaders. Out of their religion grew Science that we know today. Rhetoric was their method of investigation that led to Logic and Mathematics, and Poetry was the vehicle that accomplished this.

Question: where was knossos built (include a map)?

Answer: The Hellenic Ministry of Culture has a map at: Click here. Click on the triangle at Knossos to get more detail.

Question: What did the Minoans believe, in terms of a religion?

Answer: Details of the Minoan religion are vague because the writing of the Minoans, linear a, has not yet been translated. Archaeological indications are that it was polytheistic, but more goddess centered. It seems also that religion and politics were more intertwined, and that religion was more specific in terms of how a person should spend their time. There were numerous rituals, celebrations, processions, festivals, etc. Athena and Aphrodite seem to have come to the Greeks from the Minoan religion.

Question: Is their truth to a story that I heard about ritual sacrifice of men by the Minoan Temple Priestesses?

Answer: In our society men murder women, and sometimes women murder men. But this helps us little in our lives unless we know what is going on, so we can protect ourselves. In ancient societies there is not doubt that men sacrificed women, and in some cases women sacrificed men. But we need to look deeper to make useful sense of it. In fact the story of the Minotaur suggests that women sacrificed men. The myth states that the city of Athens had to send 7 young men and 7 young women to be the victims of the Minotaur. The Minotaur has to be a symbol of the goddesses of the Minoan religion. Homer strongly suggests this when he describes the dance floor that Dedalus built for Ariadne. This seems to be the very same labyrinth that was built for the Minotaur. Furthermore, a Labris is a symbol of the goddess religion. And a labris is a double-bit axe that could have been used to do the sacrifice. This does not prove that the young men were sacrificed by goddesses, but it is very strong circumstantial evidence.

Question: WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF MINAON WOMEN?

Answer: Of course they bore and raised children, but they also were priestesses. The Minoans had many rituals and processions, and women had an important part in them. The dressed up nicely and danced in the festivals.

Question: What was the role of the snake goddess in Minoan culture?

Answer: Marija Gimbutas thinks that the Minoan snake goddess is remarkably similar to the snake goddess of old Europe. She also thinks that this goddess evolved to become Hera of the classical Greeks. The snakes of the snake goddess of old Europe was neither demonic nor evil. In her book The Language of the Goddess she says:

“The snake is a transfunctional symbol; it permeates all themes of Old European symbolism. Its vital influence was felt not only in life creation, but also in fertility and increase, and particularly in the regeneration of dying life energy. Combined with magic plants, the snake’s powers were potent in healing and creating life anew. A vertically winding snake symbolized ascending life force, viewed as a column of life rising from caves and tombs, and was an interchangeable symbol with the tree of life and spinal cord. Similarly, snake coils exuded regenerative force as the moist eyes of the Owl goddess and the sun.”

Question: What information do you have about the Minoan Butterfly Goddess?

Answer: Marija Gimbutas, in her book The Language of the Goddess says:

“The double axe of the Branze age was originally an hourglass-shaped goddess of Death and Regeneration Epiphany of the Goddess in her aspect of emergent life, the butterfly rises from the body or skull of the sacrificed bull in a tableau symbolic of both seasonal fertility and fructifying waters. The butterfly is, in short, the embodiment of the principle of Transformation” (p. 273)

In the following image the insect heads, hourglass figures and flounced dresses all all reminiscent of the butterfly: Click here

Question: why were the minoans a civilization

Answer: A civilization is a group of people that have a lot in common yet are different from the people around them. The minoans had a common language and writing, a common architecture, a common government, a common religion, and a common pottery design. All this was different from the peoples around them. The Myceneans, on the Greek mainland, were the most similar peoples, but still there were differences.

Question: What happened to the ancient Minoan Traders

Answer: For the Minoans, trade involved shipping on the Mediteranean. For this they needed both merchant ships and military ships for escort. The Minoan navy was gone even by the time of the Trojan war. It is possible that theyt were defeated by a navy from Mycenae, but it is also possible that the navy was destroyed by the volcano that erupted on Thera in 1640 BCE.

Question: What were minoan politics like?

Answer: What little we know of Minoan politics is pretty strange. The greek myths speak of only one ruler, Minos, between Europa and the destruction of the Minoan Civilization. Theseus went to Crete in the generation before the Trojan war, but Homer fails to mention Minos a generation later. The stories about Minos suggest he had dictatorial power, but the archeological record suggests a theocracy. The Minotaur is more in line with the political force of the society than Minos. But the Minotaur craved victims. It is possible that the Minoans survived by enslaving their neighbors but the art of the Minoans suggests a more carefree life. What seems more likely is that the religious authority commanded obedience in a way that was abhorrent to the Mycenaean peoples on the mainland. Because of the sexual nature of the art of the Minoans, I wonder if there were sexual politics. It is possible that the women of Crete had a power that was abhorrent to the mainland. The myth of the Amazons may apply to the Minoan priestesses and represent a rejection of a way of life that was seen as overly dominated by women by the Mycenaeans on the mainland.

Question: what are some great achievements in minoan greek history?

Answer: Very little is known of the history of the Minoan culture. There is hope that more will be known because the literature and writing is still being decifered. There seem to have been significant developments in farming because farming was the basis of economies in this period. The Minoans were able to build large ships which dominated warefare and trade in the Eastern Mediterannean. Trade involved mainly agricultural products such as wheat and barley, wine, spices, and drugs such as opium. The Minoans also built magnificent palaces. It seems likely that their developments in writing and religion were very influential in later societies.

Question: I would like to get a hold of some or the minoan pictures for a presentation that I have to do please let me know any way I can do this? I am willing to pay for slides or images if necessary

Answer: To be fair you must deal with the museum or agency that owns the artifact. Most references cite this organization.

Question: religion

Answer: Little is know about Minoan religion. Some of the Greek deities seem to have come from Crete especially Athena and Aphrodite. It is possible that Hera was the main deity rather than a male like Zeus. The religion organized all life and included many rituals and initiations. Libations were extremely common and may have been practiced many times a day. Sacrifices were practiced with most being animal sacrifices, especially bulls. Human sacrifices are a possibility, but they would have been rare.

Question: I am looking for all references to a sacred white bull with a gold nose ring. Are there any in Minoan history?

Answer: The bull that made love to Pasiphae and produced the Minotaur was a white bull sacred to Poseidon. Here is a picture of Zeus as a white bull carrying off Europa: Click Here

Question: What information do you have for the Minoan writing “linear A”?

Answer: Linear A was a syllabic script used throughout Crete and some other Aegean Islands from about 1700 BCE to about 1450 BCE. It has only been partially deciphered but what has been interpreted suggests that it was used for administrative purposes. Mainly it contains lists of various kinds with very little poetry or descriptive statements. It has been found on clay tablets, stone vases, and minoan ceremonial double axes.

Question: What were some of the circumstances dealing with Minoan women, abortions, and infanticide?

Answer: If Pasiphae could have aborted the Minotaur, she would have. Nor Minos committ him to infanticide. It is possible that Minoan women did not practice these things.

Question: What significance does the bull play in minoan religion?

Answer: The symbol of the great goddess of the Minoan religion is the head of a bull. This symbol is believed to come from the observation of the external shape of the vagina with attached fallopian tubes in the woman. The bull’s head is therefore the symbol of the creative force of the female.

Question: Where the Minoan people the people that inhabited the legendary Atlantis?

Answer: Possibly. An eruption of a Volcano on Thera in about 1625 BCE destroyed much of the Minoan civilization including all on Thera and much on Crete. But new research into the flooding of the Black Sea suggests that this event might have produced the stories. This took place about 6000 BCE and may explain the many deluge stories. Underwater archeologists are currently combing the Black Sea floor for archeological remains.

Question: what are the types of Minoan writing?

Answer: Linaear A, and Linear B.

Question: You seem to combine the Minoan and Myceane cultures, I was under the impression that they were different.

Answer: They were different, but not that different. They were more like each other than the culture that came after them. And compared to the classical Greek culture they were quite similar while they differed remarkably from the classical culture.

Question: Is the Snake Goddess, or La Parisienne, representataive of a goddess or a merely an offering for the Gods?

Answer: The Snake Godessess appears to be a goddess while La Parisiane appears to be a celebrant. Offerings tended to be food.

Question: what are libations?

Answer: Libations are a liquid offering during a religious service.

Question: What is stalagmites and stalactites

Answer: Stalactites are cylindrical cave depositis that project downward from the roof of a cave. Stalagmites are similar deposits that project upward.

Question: WHAT IS A LABOUROUS

Answer: You probably mean “labris”. A labris is a symbol that looks like a double-bit ax. It also looks like a butterfly on a stick. This symbol was used by the Minoans as a symbol of their religion. It was placed with the handle vertical and down into a u-shaped cradle with a hole in it. It is believed that the cradle represents horns of a bull. The labris may represent a butterfly. Whether the labris was used as an instrument of sacrifice is debatable. A labyrinth is a maze to us because of the story of the Minotaur. Homer refers to a dance floor rather than a maze. Archeologists found large courtyards in the palaces of the Minoans. The labris-horn combination seems to have decorated the courtyards and provided the name “labyrinth” for the courtyard. This seems to have been a place where Minoan religious festivals were held.

Question: What is the signifigance of the Minoan Women’s elaborate head-dresses/hair styles?

Answer: Minoan women’s hair announced their status and marital state. Note the similarity so you realize that every aspect was culturally prescribed.

Answer: Little was known about it. The ancient frescoes show acrobats leaping over the bulls. But the dance may have been little different from the movements of the matador in the bull-ring. Another possibility is that there was activity to tire the bull and the dancing commenced after he was subdued. Homer mention dancing in the ring where the bulls were leaped and later where the Minotaur was slaughtered. Why the ring was called a labyrinth is because the sacred labris decorated. How labyrinth came to mean maze is the mystery. But it may have something to do with the dance. If the dance put people into a trance, then the maze might relate to the process of coming out. The maze might aslso refer to the pattern of the dance steps.

The myth of Theseus refers to the sacrifice of humans to the Minotaur. Even though Bull dancing could be a very dangerous sport it seems unlikely that captives were sacrificed to the Bull by having them dance in this way. It seems more likely that the victim is tied to the bull and the bulls wears himself out trying to get the victim off. In the process the victim is destroyed. Later, when the bull is tired the dancing takes place.

Question: What were the values of the Minoans?

Answer: It would seem that religious rituals were most important to the Minoans. Women appear to have been valued as well. The most striking aspect of the culture was the palaces which were obviously valued, but for what is not clear. Perhaps their importance lies in the bull related activity that took place in in the courtyard. Another aspect of the palaces was their storage capacity which must also have been valued since what little writing remains seem to be an accounting of that storage.

Question: Who got married? Why? Did they choose their own husbands and wives? When did they get married?

Answer: This question is a difficult but important one. The Minoans have very little written record so inferences must be made. The story of Sarpedon in Herodotus, The Histories, 1.173.1 is interesting:

“Now there was a dispute in Crete about the royal power between Sarpedon and Minos, sons of Europa; Minos prevailed in this dispute and drove out Sarpedon and his partisans; who, after being driven out, came to the Milyan land in Asia. What is now possessed by the Lycians was in the past Milyan, and the Milyans were then called Solymi. [3] For a while Sarpedon ruled them, and the people were called Termilae, which was the name that they had brought with them and that is still given to the Lycians by their neighbors; but after Lycus son of Pandion came from Athens–banished as well by his brother, Aegeus–to join Sarpedon in the land of the Termilae, they came in time to be called Lycians after Lycus. [4] Their customs are partly Cretan and partly Carian. But they have one which is their own and shared by no other men: they take their names not from their fathers but from their mothers, [5] and when one is asked by his neighbor who he is, he will say that he is the son of such a mother, and rehearse the mothers of his mother. Indeed, if a female citizen marries a slave, her children are considered pure-blooded; but if a male citizen, even the most prominent of them, takes an alien wife or concubine, the children are dishonored.”

What is documented here is the matrilinearity of the Minoans. Minoan civilization is not documented in Greek myth and it is for that reason that the work of Sir Arthur Evans in Crete brought such a surprise. One difficulty is that Greek Myth mentions just one king of Crete, Minos, yet the archeology points to a civilization that flourished for 1500 years. We also know that the volcanic eruption of Thera in about 1500 BCE destroyed much of the Minoan civilization. The story of Europa may relate to an event that occurred after Thera and Sarpedon took what remained of the Minoan culture and moved to Lycia. Herodotus does say this matrilinearity is unique among men, but a similar possibility exists that the Amazons migrated from Crete also and they also used matrilinearity.

In a society that practiced matrilinearity the place of the king required special treatment. According to Robert Graves (p. 364): “Originally the king sied violently as soon as he coupled with the queen; as the drone dies after coupling with the queen bee. Later, emasculation and laming were substituted for death; later still, circumcision was substituted for emasculation and the wearing of buskins for laming.” Now the question becomes what was the status of marriage of ordinary men if this is what is happening to the king.

It can be concluded that in the Minoan society, status resided with the woman and perhaps even the property. The husband oversaw the property and achieved status through marriage. A lamed husband probably was not useful but he could be circumcised and be made to wear buskins.

Question: What about relationships outside the marriage (e.g. concubines,prostitutes, ect.)? Were Minoans monogamous or polygamous?

Answer: Polygamy is absent from the Aegean in historical times which that monogamy was the rule. Prostitution could have been a matter of religion in Crete. Most activity in the Minoan culture was bound up in religion.

Question: Was there an idea when it came to love and/or marriage?

Answer: Sex was a powerful force in the Minoan Culture, but it is not known if love was a factor. The myths of Europa and Pasiphae do not give us a sense of love. Furthermore what comes from the Minoan culture is very powerful sexual imagery.

Question: What about divorce, widows, and widowers?

Answer: It seems likely that in a matrilineal society that a wife could rid herself of a bad husband, but it is possible that she would have to find a man who could kill him. Common practice when two men fought was that the victor took the life and wife of the loser.

Question: What was the relationship between marriage and procreation? Was there a stigma to being born out of wedlock? What about premarital sex?

Answer: In that culture sex could have been a social practice apart from marriage. The mother took care of the children she bore irregardless of the father. The husband was merely her companion. But babies out of wedlock often ended up as slaves. Girls were married at the time of their first menstruation so they could not have babies out of wedlock. Sex that occurred before the first menstruation was ignored.

Question: What is the Minoan word for love?

Answer: We do not know what language the Minoans spoke. It is possible that the language of the Hittites is as close as any.

Question: what is minoan writing?

Answer: Linear A is a pictographic form of writing while Linear B is syllabic.

Question: How did available materials influence clothing?

Answer: The clothing of the ancient Minoans is extremely puzzling. It appears quite complex in design and construction. Yet nothing is known about the nature of the construction. No remains of the clothing have been found. If the pictures of the ladies of the Minoan court are any indication of what the Minoans wore then these ladies spent an enormous amount of time maintaining their appearances and outfits. It seems unlikely that the availability of materials had any effect under these circumstances.

Question: what is the social structure of the minoan civilizations

Answer: The Minoans seem to have been a theocracy with the society strongly controlled by rite and ritual. It seems as though the basis of the economy was their maritime trade which was dependent upon a strong Minoan navy. The navy was so strong that there seems to have been little about thers society which was military. Palaces were unfortified and art represents little martial. Religious festivals and processions were important and common. These festivals included bull games which were quite exciting and violent. Matrilinearity emphasizes the importance of women in this culture, but the head of the country appears to be a king-priest. Goddesses dominate the pantheon with the highest ranking deity likely to be a goddess.

Answer: The Minoan Culture is believed to have been largely controlled by ritual. There are murals depicting women associated with blood, but it is not certain that this relates to menstrual blood. More than likely there were ritual practices associated with menstrual blood but there is little record of what these might be. The ancient Greeks were not concerned with menstrual blood and there are no myths relating to it. The myths that come about Crete do not relate to this either.

Question: what are some of the contributions the Minoans have made to life today?

Answer: There are many questions about the Minoan civilization and few answers. The discovery of their civilization was an amazing thing because before its discovery no one knew it existed. The importance of the ancient Greek civilization is easier to describe because it has been studied almost continously for over 2000 years. Yet some of the aspects of the Greek civilization must have come from the Minoan. A fair amount of our modern culture is in debt to the Greek religion and there is no doubt that a good portion of that religion came to us from the Minoan civilization. Although in many cases what we have gotten is not a pure form but a Greek adaptation, modification, or reaction. The most important development at that time was possibly the sailing ship which was probably developed by the Minoans in the beaked ship form. The ancient Minoan sailing ship was so effective that the Minoans maintained no fortifications and no army. A number of inventions have been attributed to Daedelus and these were probably Minoan developments. Daedalus is reported to have invented: sculpture, a folding chair, a dance, wings for human flight, ship’s sails, and the labyrinth.

Question: what are some common motifs in art or religion in the minoan mycenean society

Answer: Tools have been found at the archeological site of Tripiti. Among the tools found on the site were stones for milling cereals, smoothing, polishing, as well as axes, weights, hammers and mallets, which were used fastened to wooden handles. Other stone tools included blades, flakes, etc., used for cutting, chopping and the fashioning of bone tools. The inhabitants were capable of making scythes, saws and knives used for harvesting, and other activities associated with food production and craft manufacture.

Bronze did not feature very widely in the tools manufactured for two main reasons. Firstly it was non-existent in Crete and secondly there would have been problems at this stage with importing it from other countries. Click Here

Question: Is pandora’s box a minoan myth?

Anawer: Probably not. Pandora is very much bound up with Zeus. Zeus came in with the Indo-European invaders such as the Dorians. The Minoan myths mainly involved goddesses. Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera seem to have come from Crete. Hera can be associated with Europa and Pasiphae. Europa was raped by Zeus as a bull. Pasiphae had sex with a bull. And Hera was raped by Zeus. Ariadne can be related to Aphrodite. The name ‘Pandora’ seems to mean ‘cloth giver’ from Indo-European ‘pā̆n-‘, ‘woven fabric’ and ‘dō-‘, ‘to give’. This suggest Pandora is Indo European rather than Minoan. Notice that this definition is different rom the ‘all gifts’ that is given for the name as just developed from Greek.

Question: minoan gouverment

Answer: Little is known about the minoan government but a likely picture can be drawn. The government was decentralized with an aristocracy controlling the many palace centers. Each palace was probably ruled by a queen-priestess who was in charge of worship and festivities. Her husband took care of administrative duties. Most tasks were accomplished as some sort of religious ritual where some were practical and others were festive. The most important tasks centered on ships of the sea which were basic to the Cretan economy. The ships brought most of the necessities of life as well as luxuries and human tributes. These were not slaves but were more likely involved with cult or entertainment practices. They may have been sacrificed for religious or entertainment purposes. There is little indication that the minoans kept slaves. We get the picture of a powerful marine force that performed trading and demanded tribute.

Question: Were Minoan women treated equal to men?

Answer: Some Minoan women, their priestesses, may have been superior to men. The wives of rulers were pampered in a harem and treated very well. But there may have been women servants and slaves that were not treated so well. Athens sent young women to Crete to be sacrificed. But we really do not know what happened to them.

Question: How does Artemis’ Myths support Minoan Myths. Could Artemis have been a Minoan Goddess, how can you prove it.

Question: What is a good thesis i can write about minoan culture? I Have to do a research paper on the minoans.

Answer: The Minoans split Hera from Aphrodite after getting one goddess from Phoneacia. Th Minoans worshipped Artemis who came from the north. Minoans sacrificed men to women goddesses. Minoans invented the beaked ship and with it ruled the sea. Goddesses directed the Minoan armies.

Question: WHAT WAS THE MINOAN SOCIETY LIKE?

Answer: The Minoans were an urban culture with the people living in large, interactive groups. Some have said the culture was matriarchal and matrilineal but it may only be that it was a divide culture. The society was heavily dependent on maritime activity. Their ships sips far and wide and they were the masters of the sea. They may have invented the beaked ship and swept other ships off the sea. They seemed to receive tribute from many nations and gained many goods from trade. But while the men were at sea the women had to organize things at home. There were plenty of goods so they had a pretty good time. They had a series of processions and festivals throught the year with banquets, entertainments, initiations, sacrifices, and athletic events. Group dancing seemed to be a very important. The society seemed more equalitaian than most with no identifed slave cast and no dominant rulers. At home priestess seemed in charge while at sea the captain of each ship probably ruled.

Question: what does does minoan art and architecture say about the nature of their civilizations

Answer: Art always includes objects that are valued and so indicates what was valued. Art also often includes images and it can be assumed that whatever was imaged was valued as well. Minoan art includes images of women and so we can assume that the women imaged were valued. But we notice that the flounced dresses of the women imaged are probably fancy and hard to make. We might be able to conclude that the valued women dress like this, but we cannot assume all women are so dressed. We also notice that the images depict women in some sort of ritual activity. Many have concluded as a result that the Minoans were a ritualized society heavily dependent upon religion. But without some literature to back this up this is hard to prove. Minoan writing is still undeciphered, but what little has been translated indicates that it was used for trade and not for religion. There is considerable difference between the art of the Minoans and the art of Classical Greece suggesting that there is little connection between the two cultures, yet the myths of ancient Greece suggest a strong connection. It has been suggested, in particular, that the goddesses of ancient Greece are largely Minoan, but identifying them in Minoan art is quite difficult. It would seem that the Mycenaean Greeks supressed much of the Minoan culture but there is little to indicate why this is true. Nor is it clear that they supressed Minoan religion.

Question: Is there any archaeological evidence of human sacrifice on Crete

Answer: Yes there is: Cick here. In the context of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, the discovery of palaces on Crete with their courts constitutes evidence of human sacrifice in the Minoan Culture. There are also images from ancient Crete that can be interpreted as images of human sacrifice.

Question: Do you know of any group of women who were possibly priestesses, who wore black dresses?

Answer: The frescos of the minoan culture are quite colorful but I know of no black dresses. The better information is found on the Minoan ring seals but no color is present.

Question: can you tell me why minoans ate pie?

Answer: I can find no reference to Minoan pie, but a lot of flat bread was produced in ancient times, and pie is just stuffing between two pieces of flat bread.

Question: Is there any evidence that Thera and Knossos had any relationships?

Answer: The art and architecture of the two are stylistically related so the assumption is that they were related. The term “Minoan” comes from the semi-legendary king Minos of Knossos, who is said to have built the first Cretan fleet, cleared the seas of pirates, won command of the Aegean, and colonized the Cyclades (the Aegean islands north of Crete), installing his sons to rule over them. This would make Thera a colony of Knossos. Unfortunately archological efforts have not been able to verify this. This is largely because the language of the Minoans remains untranslated.

Question: what are the differences between minoan and mycanaean civilizations

Answer:

The Mycenaeans spoke Greek and the Minoans did not.

The Minoans were more goddess centered while the Myceneans were more god centered.

The Minoans controlled the sea while the Mycenaeans were confined to the land.

The Mycenaeans fortified their cities while the Minoans did not.

Question: What the Minoan Government like?

Answer: The Minoan Government consisted of rulers, priests and priestesses, and scribes. Archeology reveals a close association between Government, economy, and Religion in ancient Crete. This suggests that it was a theocracy similar to other societies in the Middle-East. The major social structure was still that of the clan or the extended family. There was no great distinction among class and surprisingly women were more or less equal to men. This might be related to the nautical nature of the society. The woman may have taken care of things while the men were at sea. There were also craftsman, farmers, traders, artisans, and slaves. The palace at Knossos appears to have been the center of Minoan government. Archeology points to an emphasis on the goddesses. A queen may have controlled the land while her husband, the king controlled affairs at sea.

Question: where does hellenic comes from?

Answer: The word ‘Hellenic’ may come from a word meaning ‘blooming land’ from Indo-European ‘4: bhel-‘, ‘leaf; bloom’ and ‘3: lendh-‘, ‘heath, steppe, open land’. Hellen was the son of Deukalion and the brother of Pandora. He was also the father of Doros, Xouthos, and Aiolos. These are the names of the various tribes of Greece. Hellen is the person who gives his name to the Greeks. They call themselves ‘Hellenes’. ” The land and the people that we call Greece and Greeks are in their own language Hellas and Hellenes. Greek is a form of the Latin Graecus, which in various modifications (grieche, grec, greco, etc.) is used in all Western languages. Graecus is Graikos, an older name for the people. Graikos was a mythical son of Thessalos. Or, since this should rather be understood as derived inversely (the person as an eponymous myth from the race), various other derivations have been proposed. Graikos (a form Hraikos also exists) is said to have meant originally “shaggy-haired”, or “freeman”, or “dweller in a valley” (W. Pape, “Worterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen”, 3rd ed., Brunswick, 1870, s.v. Graikoi). The first people so called were the people of Dodona in Epirus, then the Greeks in general during the Roman period.” Reference

Question: What Kind of beds did Minoan women sleep in?

Answer: The Egyptian bed was a rectangular wooden frame with a mat of woven cords. http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/furniture.htm http://www.ku.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Lectus.html

We do not have specific information about the Minoan bed but it seems likely that it was similar to a cot. Whether it was like a rope bed or simply a table with pillows on the top is not clear. It is clear that many people slept on skins or pads on the ground and only the most fortunate slept in a bed, off the ground, and away from vermin.

Question: Why is it so difficult to understand the administrative structure of the minoans?

Answer: There might be a number of reasons:

There is little written record of that culture, and what is written has not been translated that well.

The images from that culture focus on religious practices rather than administrative.

What is left does not suggest anything like the cultures that followed. When the culture was originally discovered it was assumed that so magnificent a culture must have had dramatic influence on later cultures of the area. But more and more influence seems to have come from the mid-east. The Cretans seem to have been more transmitters than originators. Now the Cretans do not even seem as maritime as they were once thought. It is the Cycladic and other cultures of the Greek islands that, even to this day, are involved in maritime activity that brought the materials from the mid-east.

Question: what were the 3 notable rulers or imortant figures of the minoans? and please tell me a brief descriptionof what they did..

Answer: Greek mythology refers to but a single Minoan ruler and that was Minos. It is possible that Europa was also a Minoan ruler. Her sons were Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys. All three were possible Minoan rulers. Asterius married Europa and he is another possibility. Notice that Zeus is not likely to have been named after a Minoan Ruler because his name is Indo-European. Poseidon is more likely because his name has been found on linear b tables. No inscriptions are known of any likely ruler but it is possible that the name of a deity or hero from that time preserves this information. The fact that only one generation of Minoans is preserved in the Greek myths is probably related to the conquest of Minoans by Mycenaeans. The names that are used with Greek deities have no meaning in Greek and so may reflect Minoan names taken over by the Greeks. But at present none are identified with Minoan rulers. Minos is probably not a Minoan ruler because of his relation to the Mycenaean culture.

Nobody even knows if a Minoan ruler did anything. It is possible that the rulers were women and not men. More likely is the possibility that ruling meant divination, and that the religious leaders made the decisions.

Question: what was the relationship between the minoan civilisation and the mycenaen civilisation at the time after the fires had burnt down most of crete and the mycenaens had taken over the minoans. was it an invasion?

Answer: There is much about this relationship that is not known. For a long time it was thought that the battle of the Olympians and the Titans represented a conquest of the Mycenaeans over the Minoans. Yet it now seems that it might have been the Minoan gods defeating the Mycenaean ones since the Titans seem to represent the Mycenaen culture much better that the Olympian ones. This makes it seem seem more like an assimilation than a conquest. At the time of Homer there were five cultures on Crete, but it is not known if one was a remanent of the Minoan culture. Homer in the Odyssey states book XIX, line 172:

“There is a land called Crete, in the midst of the wine-dark sea, a fair, rich land, begirt with water, and therein are many men, past counting, and ninety cities. [175] They have not all the same speech, but their tongues are mixed. There dwell Achaeans, there great-hearted native Cretans, there Cydonians, and Dorians of waving plumes, and goodly Pelasgians. Among their cities is the great city Cnosus, where Minos reigned when nine years old, he that held converse with great Zeus, [180]”

What can be concluded from this passage is that there might have been Mycenaeans on Crete at the time of the Trojan War since the Mycenaeans can be identified with the Achaeans. That Minos reigned in Knossus is not that convincing evidence for Minoan rule because the archaelogical remains at Knossus indicate that after it was a Minoan palace it became a Mycenaean palace. An interesting example of assimilation is that the Minoans used a writing called linear A that remains untranslated. The Mycenaeans seem to have borrowed this writing and produced a writing called Linear B which can be interpreted as a form of archaic Greek. Linear B tablets have been found at Knossus.

Another indication of an assimilation is the ancient Greek language. Although Greek is an Indo-European language it contains many loan words that came from other languages. Included in this list are the names of the most important deities of ancient Greece. Though it is suggested that these loan words come from the Minoan culture our lack of knowledge of the Minoan language and culture prevents us from verifying this.

Another factor is the nautical nature of the Minoan culture and the later Mycenaean culture. Both of these cultures had contact with a wide variety of other cultures and could have gotten ideas and materials from any of them. One example is the Greek alphabet which was modified from the Phonaecian alphabet. Wood for ships came from the region North of the Black Sea and tin may have come from as far away as England. This connection of culture to the sea and trade was very profitable for the Minoans and it is very likely that the Mycenaens realized this and took over what they could after the Minoan Civilization was destroyed. It has been suggested that the island culture of Greece (Cycladic culture) actually managed the trading and that the islands simply changed rulers when the Mycenaeans replaced the Minoans.

It does make sense that the Minoan civilization was destroyed by the eruption of the volcano at Thera around 1600 BCE but it is not clear how this happened. The Minoan culture seems to have survived for another 200 years at least, perhaps in a weakened state. The myths of the Minotaur suggest that the Minoan culture was strong enough to demand tribute at the time of Theseus at about 1300 BCE. That myth suggests that Theseus ended this practice at that time. The stories about Ariadne also suggests that Theseus took Minoan Culture with him back to Greece. But it does not seem that 12 children could represent an invading army. The role of Theseus seems more like a prophet who converted the Minoans to a new religion. There is also a question of whether Minos is a Mycenaean or a Minoan. Of the names related to Minos ‘Minos, Rhadamanthus, Sarpedon, Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis’ few seem to be derivable from Indo-European. But it seems that Minos cannot represent the entire Minoan Culture. At most he represents 3 generations and this is a time that is similar to the Mycenaean presence at the time of Theseus. Minos may only represent the Mycenaean presence on Crete.

The best evidence is that the relationship was one of assimilation but there is nothing conclusive. Arthur Evans thought the Minoan culture was the foundation of Greek culture. But what we now know about the Indo-European culture suggest a very strong influence from that culture. The strength of the ancient Greek culture might have resulted because it was a hybrid of the two.